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Friday 6 February 2015

A New Year's Resolution of Food

I've decided this year that we'll eat less meat. I know that's not the best way to achieve an objective, just to put it out there as a blanket, unspecific, difficult-to-measure objective, but there we go.

What have I done about this?

Well, I've developed one of my old vegetarian recipes into one that contains meat. And not just any meat, but processed pork. Could there be anything more resolution-busting than this Chorizo Chilli Chutney Tart?


Yes, as it happens. There could be Cheeseburger Pie, or Layered Cottage Pie, or any one of a number of new meat-filled recipes that I've created this year.

Oh my, Cheeseburger Pie!
I'm being a bit mean to myself though, I've also been creating some delicious new vegetarian recipes, and on the whole, they've been pretty well received. I even made a Rice Salad. We had it with the Chorizo Chilli Chutney Tart, but a big whatever to that, they went well, and that's the end of it.

One thing they never really mention in recipe books is the things that don't go right, and how to fix them. I made a leek and potato layered thing, but I didn't have enough cream, so I just topped it up with milk to the same volume. It required about an hour extra cooking time, but in the end, seemed to work out okay. For a while I was looking at some sort of peculiar leek and potato soup, though.




Experimentation also abounds: a wilted spring green, bacon lardons, and avocado salad was thrown together when Andrew and the girls had already eaten and I needed to use up some vegetables. On paper I thought it would be great, but in practice, I used too much and the wrong type of vinegar. I am going back to the drawing board with balsamic instead of red wine vinegar in this one, I think.



Festive Rice Salad
However, as we left January and entered February I'm pleased to report that we are back on track with reducing meat intake. Laregly because I have zero money, and meat is expensive, but who cares? On track is on track.

This delicious Leek and Potato Soup, Andrew's recipe, has helped enormously!






Tuesday 3 February 2015

Nostalgic Munchings

I can often be found in the kitchen trying to work out how to recreate the smells and tastes of my childhood in diabetic-friendly form. I think that the things we eat when we are children stick with us our whole lives, but the things we make as children perhaps stick with us even more so. For that very reason I have a soft spot for those cake mixes that come in packets, you know, the ones with the rice paper toppers on them. At my parents' house near Forfar we were often snowed in in winter, at which point my Mum would undertake "lessons" with us. I always asked for a cookery lesson, and one winter all she had was a packet of cake mix with Disney toppers. In memory of those lovely snow days, this Saturday while preparing for Lori's birthday party, I couldn't resist picking up a Hello Kitty version. She loved them, but sadly, I forgot to take a picture.

Andrew doesn't often ask for things that he had as a child (possibly because I have an aversion to cooking fish), so when he mentioned Milk Fadge for about the 5th time, I took the hint (and the recipe!) and decided to add it to my repertoire of bread-like baking. It's not particularly diabetic-friendly, being made with white flour and lard, but there are worse things you could eat.

I had never really heard of it before, which is strange because I have read so many recipe books over the years, but this one had passed me by. I was intrigued to see what it tasted like.


Fadge is probably a better-known term in Ireland, where it is a potato bread. But here in Scotland, fadge simply refers to a round loaf of bread. I think that's why I hadn't heard of it, although I grew up in Scotland, my parents are not Scottish. My fadges turned out to be more oval than round, but let's not quibble over that. Andrew had described it to me a few times, but mostly with adjectives. Adjectives are all very well, but they only really describe how the person feels about the food, but don't actually help you to understand what it should taste [i]like[/i]. Turns out, once I'd eaten it, that all he really needed to say was: it's like a scone without sugar. In fact, what it is very much like is an American biscuit as it's made with lard rather butter, but as neither of us has had an American biscuit, we can't be sure of that. Any readers from the US out there who would like to enlighten me further on the validity of my milk fadge = US biscuit assertion would be most welcome to chip in in the comments.



It's great with butter and jam straight out of the oven, and it's also good once it's cooled down. The first time I tried it, I misread the recipe and forgot to add the salt. The second time, I followed the recipe, but we both felt it was a little too salty, so in my recipe for Milk Fadge I have suggested reducing the salt a little.

Talking about nostalgia, I am sure that I did this craft in primary 5. It's a great way to introduce children to the concept of embroidery, and start them along the road of making patterns of neat stitches. I remember my card quite vividly, it had a robin and tree scene on it, so when I saw this blackbird and tree scene I knew I had to recreate it with Josie. You can find full instructions here.